Most people think of maps as simple representations of space, not of time, history, or myth. Yet some Mesoamerican maps relate the myths and legendary histories of the communities that made them, battle plans from all eras narrate the tactics and fortunes of combatants in space and time, and historical atlases chart the expansion and contraction of nations and empires. These maps, then, cannot be reduced to a spatial collection of facts. The most valuable information they have to offer is in the story that they tell. But do all maps tell a story? This series of the Lectures addressed this fascinating question, and in so doing made inroads into understanding the narrative and storytelling properties of maps and the ways in which maps are deployed in narrative works.

Speakers

James Akerman (The Newberry Library), “Introduction: Cartography as a Narrative Form,” “Regional Identity and the Narrative Organization of Space in Early Atlases”